Yeah, you can't take it personally. Just be your pleasant, non-complaining self and be on your way. Try to see their side as they do have to deal with many truckers who are downright difficult hombres (not us of course!).

OWI:

Jeremy, our society has been down on truckers for decades. The bad reputation was formed a long time ago and unfortunately to this day the trucker stereotype is alive and strong. We have no one to blame but ourselves. Yes there are a lot of guys and gals out there who are true professionals. They handle that rig, their job, and themselves with pride and integrity. But.....and there's always a 'but'.......

There are still plenty of those stereotypical truckers out there and we have a long way to go. Turn on channel 19 on that CB and it's a cesspool. Go sit down in the truck stop restaurant and you had better be careful you don't sit next to someone who obviously hasn't taken a shower or washed clothes in a week. And you know there's always one or two in there it seems.

Now on the bright side this makes for a great opportunity. Never have I found a job or industry where simply being clean, smelling nice, and having a big friendly smile will get you places. But it will in trucking. I used to love nothing more than to walk into a customer right behind some big, smelly, loud mouth jerk raising h*ll with the shipping clerk or dock workers. Those guys really know how to make the rest of us look good! You go in there with a big smile and a pleasant "How do you do?" and the relief in the room is almost palpable. "Thank God this guy isn't like the last guy!"

Having a great attitude goes a long way in trucking. It will get you in good with dispatch, get you out of tickets from law enforcement, and get you loaded and unloaded far more quickly at the customers. And all of that adds up to money in the bank for you.

I must admit that it's difficult at times being treated like scum of the Earth by a stranger you've never met simply because you're a truck driver. It's disheartening at times. You run your *ss off, you risk your life day in and day out, you do everything in your power to get the job done safely, then you arrive with the load and a big smile on your face only to be sneered at and told to sit in the parking lot like a bad dog. It's a shame, really. But you can't let it get you down.

To be honest, this situation isn't going to change anytime soon. Trucking is the same as it's been for 30 years now. The stereotype is still there, it still attracts a lot of the wrong people, and nobody seems able to hold truckers to a higher standard of professionalism. We're kind of given a free pass to cuss, smell, dress like pigs, and act like savages probably because nobody expects any better of us. So all you can do is be better than that yourself and take advantage of the opportunity it presents.

It's a bummer, but that's how it is.

Dm:

Dispatcher, Fleet Manager, Driver Manager

The primary person a driver communicates with at his/her company. A dispatcher can play many roles, depending on the company's structure. Dispatchers may assign freight, file requests for home time, relay messages between the driver and management, inform customer service of any delays, change appointment times, and report information to the load planners.

HOS:

Hours Of Service

HOS refers to the logbook hours of service regulations.

EPU:

Electric Auxiliary Power Units

Electric APUs have started gaining acceptance. These electric APUs use battery packs instead of the diesel engine on traditional APUs as a source of power. The APU's battery pack is charged when the truck is in motion. When the truck is idle, the stored energy in the battery pack is then used to power an air conditioner, heater, and other devices

Now on the bright side this makes for a great opportunity. Never have I found a job or industry where simply being clean, smelling nice, and having a big friendly smile will get you places. But it will in trucking. I used to love nothing more than to walk into a customer right behind some big, smelly, loud mouth jerk raising h*ll with the shipping clerk or dock workers. Those guys really know how to make the rest of us look good! You go in there with a big smile and a pleasant "How do you do?" and the relief in the room is almost palpable. "Thank God this guy isn't like the last guy!"

-Brett Aquila

I love doing this. And in all fairness, it may be easier for a girl to pull off on a grungy old dock, but well, it's the only break I get in this biz. I have seen the very professional males well-received when they arrive. Just keep swimming...

I must admit that it's difficult at times being treated like scum of the Earth by a stranger you've never met simply because you're a truck driver. It's disheartening at times. You run your *ss off, you risk your life day in and day out, you do everything in your power to get the job done safely, then you arrive with the load and a big smile on your face only to be sneered at and told to sit in the parking lot like a bad dog. It's a shame, really. But you can't let it get you down..

I fully beleive the way truckers are commonly treated is a symptom of how our societies norms and values have been sliding downhill for many years now. I have a friend who is a Police Officere in Orlando and he comments all the time about how people hate the police so much and how much contempt they show the Police when they are working public events. He told me that he was envious of the Firemen that got treated so much better than the police working the same events. If we were to tweak Bretts words in the above quote a bit, it could easily apply to any number of public facing professions and groups of people. It is a sad reality in this selfish world of "me first -- screw you" mentality. I'm afraid it's not going to change for the better any time soon either.

Dm:

Dispatcher, Fleet Manager, Driver Manager

The primary person a driver communicates with at his/her company. A dispatcher can play many roles, depending on the company's structure. Dispatchers may assign freight, file requests for home time, relay messages between the driver and management, inform customer service of any delays, change appointment times, and report information to the load planners.

The other thing to keep in mind is people as a whole a clueless that everything they have ever owned currently own and ever will own was once on the back of a truck. They just think of trucks as this big things in their way on the roads.

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